New Delhi, July 8 (IANS) Dozens of children were infected with HIV at a government-run hospital in Pakistan’s Sindh province amid allegations that contaminated syringes were reused during treatment, according to a report.
According to a report by the UK-based The Telegraph, at least 78 children contracted HIV at Kulsoom Bai Valika Hospital in Sindh.
The report said the investigation follows months of protests by families, who accused the authorities of failing to order an independent inquiry into the outbreak, which was first reported in November last year.
The families eventually approached the Sindh High Court, which directed the government to submit a report within two weeks explaining the cause of the infections.
The petition filed before the court alleges that more than 200 children contracted HIV after disposable syringes were allegedly reused at the hospital.
The families also claimed that at least nine children have died, although officials have not confirmed those figures.
According to the report, the petition argues that the reuse of disposable syringes amounts to criminal negligence and accuses the authorities of failing to investigate the incident or ensure proper treatment for the affected children.
The outbreak comes amid growing concern over paediatric HIV infections in Pakistan.
Citing Sindh’s health department, The Telegraph reported that 329 of the 894 HIV cases recorded in the province between January and March this year were among children.
Pakistan has witnessed several healthcare-associated HIV outbreaks in recent years, including the 2019 Ratodero outbreak in Sindh, where hundreds of children were infected after contaminated needles were allegedly reused. A subsequent World Health Organization investigation identified unsafe injection practices as the primary cause of the outbreak.
“By June that year, more than 800 children had tested positive in the town of 300,000. The town then slipped out of the global headlines as the world wrestled with the Covid-19 pandemic. But the cases have kept coming,” the report said.
–IANS
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